Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

9 a.m. in the Classroom room

That’s from one of the schedule sheets hanging inside the entrance to the Jays’ clubhouse here. The pitchers all have a meeting at 9 a.m. this morning and they need to report to the “Classroom room.”

A couple sheets over was the schedule for today’s first official workout, and plenty of pitchers were heading over to check out what stations they needed to go to first and which groups they’ve been place in. There are four groups for bullpen sessions, and some of the names are in bold and some aren’t, leading to some confusion.

“Those are the guys who already made the team,” quipped T.J. Beam.

Dirk Hayhurst — who enjoys chatting with us scribes and is a soon-to-be published writer himself — walked over and tossed in a self-deprecating jab: “Am I even on the list? Or did I get cut already?” This from the guy who was released last week and then subsquently re-signed.

Some new position player arrivals today include Alex Rios (sans mohawk), Vernon Wells and Mighty Joe Inglett. We chatted with John McDonald and Rios a bit about life as new fathers, and neither got much sleep over the offseason. Rios, whose daughter is seven months old, was asked if he mastered the art of diaper changing.

“No,” he said with a laugh. “I actually haven’t changed one yet.”

Rios also said he didn’t do much over the winter, even skipping out on Vernon Wells’ birthday party. Wells, sitting a few lockers over, chuckled when Rios brought that up. I suggested that the party should’ve been held in Puerto Rico. “I know!” Rios agreed.

After the meeting, pitchers and catchers will begin their workout today with good old-fashioned stretching on the team’s “agility field,” which is just a plot of grass between two practice diamonds with a grid of lines painted on it. Two years ago, it was just a field. Now, it’s got a super cool name!

Starbucks: Located and enjoyed. Grande White Mocha, because they don’t carry Irish Cream anymore. A Grande Irish Cream Mocha is my drink of choice at any other coffee joint.

In my CD player: The Killers — Hot Fuss, because as much as I love this Vegas band, that first album is still their best.

Last night: Watched a three-hour Baseball Tonight special, which they said at the start was aimed at previewing all 30 teams. Funny, I don’t recall them bringing up the Jays.

Tonight: Trying to find the Flight of the Conchords episode from last night somewhere online. No HBO at the ol’ condo. Not cool, especially when the Wife calls laughing to see if I watched the show. No, I did not. Thanks for asking.

It’s disappointing, so no pick for either Mench or Wilkerson after carrying those guys in the last half in 2008. So I guess we get a sandwich pick for Zaun and Burnett and a first rounder for Burnett which is so late in the first round it might as well be a sandwich pick.

Commissioner Bud Selig’s comments yesterday on steroids and HGH are a joke. He states:

“Let’s just say I’m going to monitor that situation closely,” he said. “I honestly don’t know how anyone could have done more than we’ve already done.”

**Couldn’t do more-how about explaining why he allowed the awarding of the MVP in 2003 to A-Rod when he knew A-Rod had tested positive twice? How about pressing to have the other 103 names from the report released?

Cito’s comments on McGowan are a wake up call and concern. I still think the issue on McGowan is “if” he comes back more than when he comes back. I have stated before this is a seriousinjury/operation and a lot of guys never make it back.
Thank you Cito for your honesty by comparision to the consistent JP spin:
Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi also said that McGowan’s timetable is subject to change.
“Right now, we’re shooting for May,” Ricciardi said. “It could be longer. I don’t think sooner is a possibility.”

After hearing Cito’s comments on McGowan, I would much rather see them take their time with him and make sure he is completely healthy for 2010. Everyone has all but written off this season, and even though I don’t completely agree with that, I’d hate to see them bring him back early just for the sake of trying to salvage it. Healthy McGowans and Marcums are a necessity for the future of this team.

I don’t think McGowan will be back,He reminds me of Burnett, always on the DL.
As for Wells the only reason he has a personal trainer is for the WBC so he can play with the big boys, the reason I say this is he never did it before for the Jays, now he will keep the trainer with him this year so it won’t look like he did it for the WBC. We all know the team is a no show this year so why the big fitness push.

Garry
The thing I found interesting on Well’s comments is this is the first time he’s actually worked over the off season. That was disappointing considering the contract we gave him. Vernon’s burning desire to succeed at high levels has always been a question-hopefully this marks a change in attitude.
The thing about McGowan is not many guys come back or at least come back to the same level from this injury/surgury. I was pleased to see Cito’s comments in “not rushing him.” Realistically, I think he’s next year if at all; we will find out how badly he wants it, because hard work is the key.
We will also soon find out about Janssen.

There is no sandwich pick for Zaun, he didnt make Type B status. Burnett brings us a supplementary 1st round pick wich is around 37 or 38th overall (wich isnt that late alot of good players still arond at that time). Because the jays didnt recieve a first round pick for the Burnett they also get the Yankee’s 3rd round pick 99th overall? or around there. so the Jays have a total of 5 picks in the top 100 this year. The first one is the Jays own pick of 20th overall. Could be another good year to add the the farm.

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